Turns out Oxalis is Greek for sorrel. You may find this excerpt from a book on foraging (Front Yard Forager: Identifying, Collecting , and Cooking the 30 Most Common Urban Weeds) interesting. Never collect from areas that might have been sprayed. ... Oxalis is often confused for Clover, but has heart shaped leaves while clover has oval shaped leaves. Is there (or can there be) a general algorithm to solve Rubik's cubes of any dimension? Wash well before eating, you never know what was sprayed there. Lemonish taste definitely points to woodsorrel. I actually don't eat anything from a park. Their flowers are though very different, and would be much better indicators. Wood sorrel has traditionally-shaped bright yellow flowers instead of the very distinctive beach umbrella/Christmas light shape of the red or white clover flower. Since plants are high in oxalic acid they might pose a problem if eaten in any quantity by people who have trouble with kidney stones. For this reason, I have not declared war on it. Allan R. Wallace from Wherever Human Rights Reign on January 10, 2011: I grew up in Orange County, I think this is what we ate as sour grass -- just the long yellow flower stems, usually eaten on the way to and from school. In general, this plant doesn’t grow well in wet soils. There are over 500 species of Oxalis. Ted Manzer teaches agriculture at Northeastern High School. Plant identification - what plant is this? I checked the plant and the flower had not bloomed yet. Wood sorrel with flowers Does history use hypothesis testing using statistical methods? They are often used in flowerbeds and hanging baskets. It's found all over the Los Angeles area. It only takes a minute to sign up. Lemonish taste definitely points to woodsorrel. Both frequently wind up in our nursery pots, but that’s where the comparison ends. We usually refer to wood sorrel as Oxalis, it’s genus name. Both clovers and Oxalis have three leaflets per leaf. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. It's sorrel and it's great to eat. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. What this plant is best known for is its … They look nothing alike though. Trilium vs Trifolium. – Oxalis … Clover leaves have a toothed edge and are not heart-shaped. What is the minimum viable ecological pyramid a terrafoming project would introduce to world with no life to make it suitable for humans? They are. How to solve a linear problem A x = b in PETSC when matrix A has zero diagonal enteries? Common yellow woodsorrel, Oxalis stricta, is a native North American plant (also found in Eurasia) which is usually considered a weed.It has numerous common names, including common yellow oxalis, sour grass, shamrock, sleeping beauty, sour trefoil, and sheep’s clover. rev 2020.11.24.38066, Sorry, we no longer support Internet Explorer, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Gardening & Landscaping Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. I am not sure if these are edible. Plants called shamrock include the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) of the family Oxalidaceae, or any of various plants of the pea family (Fabaceae), including white clover (Trifolium repens), suckling clover (T. dubium), and black medic (Medicago lupulina). Drying the leaves and grinding them into a powder makes tasty seasoning for grilled foods. ( Log Out /  It is easily distinguished from clover by the 3 heart-shaped leaflets found on top of each long stalk (or petiole) and 5-petaled yellow flowers that bloom from spring through summer. There's a short video here about this plant https://youtu.be/mu9NbaJniVY, Further information http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Oxalis+corniculata. Although.I have been using these in my terrarium. Wood Sorrel Is Edible. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. Can’t access the book - how about citing the interesting part? Sorrel and clover have admitedly similar leaves, however, sorrel has more distinguished crease (groove) in the middle of 'hearts', just as it is pictured on your photos. Having leaves with three equal blades does not make a plant a clover. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. These tastes like lemon. Oxalis comes from the Greek oxus, which means "sour". I only find this topic to be funny because this morning, an associate referred to clover as ‘trilium’, and for some reason, I repeated the mistake, and we actually conversed about it for quite a while before we realized what we were talking about. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Change ), Wood sorrels are edible clover lookalikes, aggressive spreading rhizomes or bulblets, Dill Pickles can be made from those big orange cucumbers too, Coronavirus constraints make me appreciate self-sufficiency, Some plants control the growth of other plants, Planning your home garden can be complicated, Pencil cactus is an interesting but poisonous houseplant. ), Plant identification (wild sorrel or clover), http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Oxalis+corniculata, MAINTENANCE WARNING: Possible downtime early morning Dec 2/4/9 UTC (8:30PM…, “Question closed” notifications experiment results and graduation. (With reference to the source, of course. Their flowers are though very different, and would be much better indicators. They are more difficult to control than clovers with herbicides. Both frequently wind up in our nursery pots, but that’s where the comparison ends. A single plant could produce hundreds of seeds. I’ll check the flower in a couple of days and update with a comment. With a name like Oxalis, one might expect plants to be high in oxalic acid. It’s a great lemon substitute. Do far-right parties get a disproportionate amount of media coverage, and why? Oxalis, also known as wood sorrel, is a perennial weed that is often mistaken for clover. ( Log Out /  Oh my! The genus name for wood sorrel is oxalis. Both … The most interesting fact in the book is the claim that Algonquin Indians used this plant as an aphrodisiac. Just visible is a yellow flower, not fully open yet, and once that opens, you can confirm (or deny) this ID. ( Log Out /  Most types have either aggressive spreading rhizomes or bulblets. Oxalis can grow to be 4 to 12 inches tall and thrives in full sun or shade. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Oxalis, also known as wood sorrel, looks very similar to another weed called Clover, with the signature three-parted rounded leaves. Other names are ‘sourgrass’ or ‘pink shamrock’ (However real Irish Shamrock is white clover). I have found these plants in my local park. Poison Ivy-like house plant identification? I wish I had a dollar for every time I had to explain to a student the difference between clovers and wood sorrels.